The Michigan Catholic: A Dominican Moment

If there’s a lesson to be learned from a recent uptick in vocations to the Dominican priesthood and religious life, that’s it.

Since about 2007-08, enrollment at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C., the seminary that forms men for the Dominican Province of St. Joseph for the northeastern part of the United States, has seen a steady increase, with more men showing interest in the intellectual and spiritual traditions of St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Dominic.

Among the 66 priesthood candidates and 102 total students — including brothers and lay students — at the House of Studies, Bros. Anthony and Luke VanBerkum, OP, have felt God’s subtle nudge toward the life of the Order of Preachers, commonly known as the Dominicans.